Steve Cohen, SHOW ME THE MONEY!

Mets fans have every right to be furious over losing star shortstop Carlos Correa because of a physical concern. Steve Cohen showed his "boundless ambitions" have limits after all.

Forbes estimates Steve Cohen, the bombastic owner of the New York Mets, is worth north of $16 BILLION.

$16 billion can help fix a lot of things. Apparently, it’s not enough money to take a chance on a star player who could put the Mets, in the words of Cohen himself, “over the top.”

Of course, the player we’re talking about is Carlos Correa. The headliner of the shortstop free agent market. The man who bet on himself last winter by taking a smaller deal with an opt out. One of the antagonists of the Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal.

Correa’s name has made Breaking News headlines three times now over the past month. First, he agreed to a 13-year, $350 million deal with the Giants. That deal was pending a physical. When a concern arose over the physical, the Giants’ canceled their scheduled press conference and then, like, twenty seconds later, Cohen and the Mets swooped in and signed Correa to a 12-year, $315 million contract.

Pending a physical.

And wouldn’t you know it. The same concern that popped up for the Giants came to fruition for the Mets.

Now, there is obviously a real concern to address here. Correa suffered a severe leg injury in 2014 when he was still a top minor league prospect in the Houston organization. But what’s interesting is that Correa has never missed serious time because of that specific injury.

However, there was an apparent aggravation that popped up just last season. That irritation was concerning enough for the Giants to press pause — I don’t believe they ever actually withdrew before Correa spurned them for New York — on their offered deal.

I’m not sure what Cohen thought would pop up in the medical physical the Mets administered, but at the time, it didn't seem to matter.

And that’s’ the point. It shouldn’t matter. Not when you laud your money around. Not when you say you’ll do whatever it takes to win a championship.

This is Steve Cohen’s face when he realizes baseball people, specifically Mets fans, don’t think highly of him cutting bait with Carlos Correa. It’s a face that says “I could care, but then again, I have $16 billion. Boo Ya.”

I’m not one for conspiracies, but there is a small part of me that wonders if Cohen swooped in so dramatically because he knew he had an out. He could be the hero but save face at the same time. If the physical showed anything concerning, then the Mets could also press pause on their offer. If the physical was clean, then it’s safe to assume that Cohen would have paid out the money that would have put his team’s payroll at roughly 30% higher than anyone else’s in baseball.

We know today that the Mets had concerns and that led Correa all the way back to the team who signed him last offseason: the Minnesota Twins. Just like we all predicted.

As the title of this post says, Steve Cohen, SHOW ME THE MONEY.

I mean, come onnnnnnnnn.

I’m definitely anything but a Mets fan, but if I was, I’d be furious. How can you have $16 billion, say you’ll spend whatever it takes to win a championship, and then have something like this fall through so anticlimactically?

The injury concern, in my opinion, should not have stopped Cohen from signing Correa. If Cohen is who he says he is, then the potential for an injury shouldn’t matter.

But Cohen is definitely not who he says he is.

At least when George Steinbrenner went big, he always saw it through.

Steve Cohen is a fraud and liar. He is a scumbag who failed to prevent insider trading as a so called “hedge-fund king.” He’s like the Donald Trump of baseball.

What’s most ironic is that I believe the idealism behind what Cohen wants to do is good for the game of baseball. Owners should spend more money. They should put pressure on each other to spend to win and not save to profit.

Alas, here we are. Just when I thought Cohen could convince me to like him as baseball owner, he shows me that he has a limit. And to me, that limit is not a good enough reason for me to support his decision to pass on signing Carlos Correa.

The Mets will likely still be very good next season. But the failure to add Correa may be a decision that haunts the organization for years to come.